Nature of Business and Basis of Presentation

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2014

Nature of Business and Basis of Presentation [Abstract]

Nature of Business and Basis of Presentation

Note 1 – Nature of Business and Basis of Presentation

MGIC Investment Corporation is a holding company which, through Mortgage Guaranty Insurance Corporation ("MGIC"), MGIC Indemnity Corporation (“MIC”) and several other subsidiaries, is principally engaged in the mortgage insurance business.  We provide mortgage insurance to lenders throughout the United States and to government sponsored entities (“GSEs”) to protect against loss from defaults on low down payment residential mortgage loans.

The accompanying unaudited consolidated financial statements of MGIC Investment Corporation and its wholly-owned subsidiaries have been prepared in accordance with the instructions to Form 10-Q as prescribed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim reporting and do not include all of the other information and disclosures required by accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”). These statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2013 included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K. As used below, “we,” “our” and “us” refer to MGIC Investment Corporation’s consolidated operations or to MGIC Investment Corporation, as the context requires.

In the opinion of management the accompanying financial statements include all adjustments, consisting primarily of normal recurring accruals, necessary to fairly state our financial position and results of operations for the periods indicated.The results of operations for the interim period may not be indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2014.

Capital - GSEs

Since 2008, substantially all of our insurance written has been for loans sold to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the “GSEs”), each of which has mortgage insurer eligibility requirements to maintain the highest level of eligibility. The existing eligibility requirements include a minimum financial strength rating of Aa3/AA-. Because MGIC does not meet such financial strength rating requirements (its financial strength rating from Moody’s is Ba3 (with a stable outlook) and from Standard & Poor’s is BB (with a positive outlook)), MGIC is currently operating with each GSE as an eligible insurer under a remediation plan. We believe that the GSEs view remediation plans as a continuing process of interaction with a mortgage insurer and MGIC will continue to operate under a remediation plan for the foreseeable future. The GSEs may include new eligibility requirements as part of our current remediation plan. There can be no assurance that MGIC will be able to continue to operate as an eligible mortgage insurer under a remediation plan.

The GSEs previously advised us that, at the direction of their conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (“FHFA”), they will be revising the eligibility requirements for all mortgage insurers. We expect the revised eligibility standards to include new counterparty financial requirements (the “GSE Counterparty Financial Requirements”). Prior to publicly releasing the draft of the revised eligibility requirements, the FHFA is allowing state insurance regulators a period of time in which to review them on a confidential basis. After considering any changes suggested by the state insurance regulators, the FHFA is expected to release the draft eligibility requirements for public input, which could occur as early as the second quarter of 2014. We have not been informed of the content of the new eligibility requirements, their timeframes for effectiveness, or the length of the public input period.

We have various alternatives available to improve our existing risk-to-capital position, including contributing additional funds that are on hand today from our holding company to MGIC, entering into additional external reinsurance transactions, seeking approval to write business in MIC and raising additional capital, which could be contributed to MGIC. While there can be no assurance that MGIC would meet the GSE Counterparty Financial Requirements by their effective date, we believe we could implement one or more of these alternatives so that we would continue to be an eligible mortgage insurer after the GSE Counterparty Financial Requirements are fully effective. If MGIC (or MIC, under certain circumstances) ceases to be eligible to insure loans purchased by one or both of the GSEs, it would significantly reduce the volume of our new business writings.

See additional disclosure regarding statutory capital in Note 15 – “Statutory Capital.”

Reclassifications

Certain reclassifications have been made in the accompanying financial statements to 2013 amounts to conform to 2014 presentation.

Restricted cash and cash equivalents

During the second quarter of 2013, approximately $60.3 million was placed in escrow in connection with the two agreements we entered into to resolve our dispute with Countrywide Home Loans (“CHL”) and its affiliate, Bank of America, N.A., as successor to Countrywide Home Loans Servicing LP (“BANA” and collectively with CHL, “Countrywide”) regarding rescissions. In the fourth quarter of 2013, approximately $42.9 million was released from escrow in connection with the BANA agreement. At March 31, 2014 and December 31, 2013, approximately $17.4 million remains in escrow in connection with the CHL agreement. See additional discussion of these settlement agreements in Note 5 – “Litigation and Contingencies.”

Subsequent events

We have considered subsequent events through the date of this filing.